The Public Health National Emergency Operations Centre (PHNEOC) at the former ebola office at Cockeril has called on all Sierra Leoneans to make sure that the burial policy is followed according to law, and is fully implemented so that a comprehensive death register of the country is available.
PHNOEC Communications Pillar lead, Harold Thomas said even though ebola is over, and the mandatory swabbing has ended too, they will still continue to swab corpses that fits the bill of ebola and they want all deaths in the country to be recorded.
During the communications pillar meeting on Monday at their Cockeril office several messages to combat any ebola outbreak and to strengthen the death register were adopted.
The Communications team surmised that reporting all deaths in Sierra Leone and obtaining a death certificate is required by the country’s law and this helps health officials track diseases to keep the communities safe.
The report also states that even deaths from all diseases, accidents, still births and any other course must be reported to 117 before burial. “If you can’t reach 117, report to the nearest health facility.”
The Communications Team averred anyone who can’t reach 117, all deaths must be reported to the nearest health facility, and said 117 will provide callers with feedback information on their calls within two hours.
On the response on reporting of deaths, the team says death certificates and burial permits are always mandatory before burial by law of the land.
Because the swabbing is still on, but optional now, they are advising everybody, that the disease surveillance officers and team in each district will decide which deaths need to be swabbed and/or tested for disease.
Also, deaths meeting Ebola case definition will be strongly recommended to receive safe and dignified burials (SDB), because they believe in prevention than cure so that the reoccurrence of the ebola virus will be handled properly.
PHNOEC is calling on all Sierra Leoneans that reporting all deaths is required by law because they want to keep the communities safe for everybody, and death reporting will help health officials track and respond to infectious diseases.
PHNOEC says the reason for all these messages is to make sure that ebola does not reoccur again in the country and to make sure that the death register is updated and to capture almost all the deaths across the country.
Friday July 22, 2016
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